In musical news, I got the opportunity to see my friends Cirkestra last Friday. Here’s a video of their song “Philomena”, which is one of my favorites, and the video was shot at that actual show.
Even more important than that, however, is the fact that IrishBand now has an animated video for one of our songs. Please check it out and enjoy it, and feel free to share it with each and every one of your friends.
Thank you.
While driving home from the store today, I saw a police car along the side of the road with the words “UFO Response Team” emblazoned on the back, and the little kid in me got all excited thinking about all that stuff again. You see, when I was young, I had an endless fascination for UFO’s. I had a stack of books about them (by authors like J. Allen Hynek and John Mack) and I watched every TV special I could. The Air Force used to have a special team called Project Blue Book that investigated sightings and stories, and for about two seconds in the late 1970′s, long before “The X-Files”, there was a TV show based on Project Blue Book cases that was called “Project U.F.O.”
Long before conspiracy theories abounded or distrust of the government became de riguer, there seemed to be a kind of mythology about UFO’s. One show described an ancient site in South America that was given the insipid name of EarthBaseOne, which (after decades of retrospect) looked like an Inca temple. It was a large square, with no roof, and in the walls of the square were carvings of skulls. One was human, and the others (all around the walls) were slight variations on human faces. Some were very similar to our current visage, while others were grotesquely misshapen. A quick Google search revealed that the site’s real name is Tiahuanaco, in Bolivia.
Anyway, the show put forward the idea that extraterrestrial life forms created humanity, and that Tiahuanaco was the place where they worked out their ‘design’ for us. An interesting theory, and one that I’ve never forgotten.
So anyway, I got to thinking about all that UFO business again this afternoon, and I really wanted to see the show “Project U.F.O.” again. It took longer than I would have thought to scrounge up an actual episode (Due to a government cover-up, perhaps? KIDDING!), but here’s one for you.
Warning: WATCH THIS CLIP AT YOUR OWN RISK. It may have been based on an interesting premise, but the show is a complete and utter turd. Do not attempt to drive or use heavy machinery after watching it.
You’ve been warned.
There, see? I warned you.
Here’s the first segment; you know what to do if you want to watch the rest of them.
Well.
This is the infamous Super Bowl Sunday, and I for one could not care less about that. In fact, if it wasn’t for Twitter, I wouldn’t have known that today is the day. That’s how little I follow sports.
I know what I said a couple of weeks ago about how ‘the hiatus is over’ and all that, but life seems to have gone into overdrive since then, and I haven’t had two minutes to rub together to write anything new.
Two weekends ago, I went to Waldport, Oregon to spend the weekend with a childhood friend whose job is about to end, which will force him to move away from that pretty little town. (Photos to come, as soon as I get the chance to go through them.)
IrishBand has a friend who’s creating an animated video for one of our songs, and it’s tremendous! It should be done within a couple of weeks, and then I’ll be able to share it here. It’s been quite a process, and very exciting to watch it all come together. We needed to create an ‘intro’ section for it (you’ll see what I mean) that featured the sound of the band setting up their instruments and tuning up and whatnot. Since two of the band members are busy in school, we weren’t able to schedule a rehearsal, so I set up the instruments (drums, bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and cello played up high to simulate a violin) in my living room and recorded them using one microphone to simulate a camera person walking in and recording us that way. (Photos to come, once I have a chance to go through them.)
I spent last weekend in Seattle to see a pipe organ concert at my brother’s church and to celebrate BabyNiece’s first birthday. It was really fun, and super cute, and a bit stressful all at the same time. (Photos to come, as soon as I get the chance to go through them.) I drove back late Saturday night so that I could attend the Oregon Symphony the next afternoon. They were featuring Jean-Philippe Collard performing Ravel’s beautiful Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, which I love and didn’t want to miss. (Extra-special thanks to Kelly V. for making it possible for me and my companion to go!) Hmm. . .’companion’ makes it sound like I’m gay, which I’m not. For the record, my companion was a girl.
Anyway.
I couldn’t find a video of Collard playing the Left Hand, but here’s one of him playing a similar piece by Ravel, for solo piano.
It was an incredible and beautiful show. The orchestra started with a piece by Thomas Adés called “Powder Her Face”, which was very colorful and enchanting. Next up was the Ravel concerto, followed by Gustav Holst’s “Egdon Heath” and one of the lesser-known Mozart symphonies, number thirty four. The Ravel was the only piece either of us (and I daresay the majority of the audience, as well) was familiar with. I love the way the conductor, Carlos, Kalmar, chooses music for his programs. This is the second one I’ve seen so far this season, and he likes to blend the familiar with the unfamiliar in an intriguing way.
Speaking of the Oregon Symphony, next season promises to be world-class. Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Hillary Hahn, Emmanuel Ax, Lang Lang. . .and that’s not even close to a complete list. We are in for a treat multiple treats!
I had the opportunity to play with two nationally-known songwriters this week, in the same venue, on different days. The first was Tony Furtado (a friend with whom I play fairly regularly) and the second was Dan Bern, who I had just met earlier in the day, when I helped my friend John by engineering and sort of co-hosting a podcast for KZME Radio called Hello Cruel World. This was the second time I’ve had the opportunity to do that, the first being a couple weeks prior, when we interviewed an excellent new songwriter from Seattle named Tamara Power-Drutis. Anyway, we were talking with Dan about the times we’ve seen him in concert. John mentioned to Dan that I play accordion and multiple other things, and Dan asked if I know his music. “Yes, I do,” I answered. He asked, “Do you want to come play at the show tonight?” “Absolutely!”
This picture was taken during the song God Said No.
So yeah, between the multiple out-of-town trips, the stellar gigs, the birthday parties and the nights out, it’s been quite a fun couple of weeks. Now I’m off to meet a friend for dinner, and tomorrow I’ll be mixing some more songs for IrishBand.
I’m off of blogging hiatus, but we’ll see how long it takes before I have time to write again. I don’t imagine it’ll be this long.
I’m kind of obsessed with this song lately. I first heard it when my friend played it on his radio show one night. The singer’s voice sounded familiar, and the pianist clearly had classical chops. I was mesmerized, and I called my friend at the station to find out who that was. It turned out to be a new song by Regina Spektor called “Machine.”
The song’s subject matter and the detached quality of Regina’s perfomance always remind me of a beautiful, enigmatic and very dark anime series called Serial Experiments: Lain, which I recommend whole-heartedly, although I would add the caveat that its darkness and strangeness is not for everyone; certainly not for the faint of heart.
[UPDATE: Click on the picture, and that will take you to the first episode of the show.]
In other news, I spent this last weekend at the coast for a much-needed getaway. It allowed me, among other things, the luxury of enough time away from all of the usual nonsense, so that I could cut out the noise and think about the people and things that are important to me, and one of them was this blog. I needed some time away from it to appreciate how much I enjoy having this particular outlet, and you’ll be glad to know that I plan to write much more often, like I used to.
The hiatus is officially over.
